The Rangers finally got to play a hockey game on Saturday after a week of talking about not playing any hockey games.
Did their long layoff contribute to their 4-1 loss to the Oilers at Madison Square Garden? Mike Zibanejad put the matter into perspective.
“I mean, if we won today that week would have been the best in our life,” he said. “Now it’s tough, obviously. You feel like you’re a little bit out of your rhythm. But it’s not an excuse at all.”
The fact the Rangers’ best period was the first seemed to argue against the long layoff theory.